Hunting Season

Well, that was a month that was! We
expected October to be a barn burner, and that is the way it turned
out. October is normally the finest month of the year (in the north
temperate zone) and some way should be found to extend it so as to
provide more of the Golden Days of Autumn.

To present a full account of all of our adventures in the wonderful
month just past would require a very thick log book. Let us just
say that we had a nifty time touring the great mountain states in
the lovely S4 and seeing them at the peak of their spectacular fall
colors. Not only is the "mountain redoubt" (Wyoming, Montana and
Idaho) beautiful to see, but in addition it constitutes what may be
the last refuge of dignity, decency and common sense in the United
States (e.g. a bumper sticker we saw in Cody, Wyoming, announced,
"Stop honking, I'm reloading.").

The place names up in that country are a delight in themselves:
Spotted Horse, Wounded Wolf, Recluse, Medicine Bow, and Dead
Swede - among others.

This is indeed a grand region, but it is lonely. "People who need
people" should look elsewhere.

The press party for the Steyr Scout was
most entertaining. The little gun is truly a jewel, and a great
tribute to the ingenuity of the engineers at Steyr. I take
satisfaction in the knowledge that this modern version of the scout
rifle concept is largely my idea. The little gun is a great
pleasure to shoot and, in my opinion, it is indeed a great leap
forward. A couple of minor modifications were agreed upon at
Whittington and will be incorporated in the production model to be
displayed at the SHOT Show in January. These include a somewhat
lighter bolt-lift, a black rather than nickel bolt, and a seamless
stock juncture. I am doing my best to actuate the left-hand version
to be offered ASAP. One out of six shooters is left-handed, and
four personal friends of mine have stated vigorously that their
money will be forthcoming just as soon as a left-handed version is
on the market.

There is already talk of variations in caliber. The basic piece
will be offered in 308, and plans are already afoot for a 7-08
version for jurisdictions where 30 is forbidden. Also there is talk
of presenting a medium-bore version of the piece, taking a
proprietary cartridge to be used in those parts of Africa where the
hunting of dangerous game is restricted to cartridges of 375 bore
size (9.3mm). It is fun to speculate about future possibilities,
but I would like to see the conceptually pure 7.62 NATO item prove
itself on the market before we start messing around. In my opinion,
the left-hand version of the piece should take first
priority.

Invariably the subject will come up: "How
does the Steyr Scout shoot?" Well, it shoots very well indeed. Why
wouldn't it? The Steyr Mannlicher organization has been producing
superbly accurate rifles since before I was born, and I do not see
why they should change now. There are those who feel that no weapon
as short (37 inches) and light (7lbs flat including the sight) can
possibly shoot alongside a bull gun. Well, it does! You may prove
that to yourself the first chance you get, which, incidentally,
should be along about March of next year.

We shot Pepper Poppers at 100
(off-hand), 200 (sitting), and 300 (bipod), and those Poppers took
a terrible beating. That lovely trigger, with its clean, 30-oz
break, actually seems to make it hard to miss.

Listen to me purr!

Incidentally, we set up the Billy Dixon
shot at Whittington (plus or minus 1340 yards), and I was amazed at
the modest amount of holdover necessary with the little gun using
boat-tailed target ammunition. We had difficulty observing the
strike of the 30 caliber bullets at that extravagant distance, but
what we could see was astonishing - to me, at any rate. The
drop at that range is, of course, considerable, but somehow when
actually shooting it seems less than it should be.

After the press party we cruised up to
Gillette, Wyoming, where we were the guests of Dave Lauck, the
renowned custom gunsmith. We had deer tags, but we were only
moderately successful, since these Gillette mule deer seem to favor
a sagebrush environment, and a Wyoming mule deer at this time of
year is exactly the color of sage. Nonetheless, I was able to
bounce a modest little "double 4" with the new gun. The range
seemed very long to me, but the laser logged it at 215, a humbling
experience! That was first blood for SS#6, and now we intend to
take it to Africa next April and to fill up a fairly elaborate
shopping list in the Okavango Delta.

From Gillette we cruised over across the
Big Horn Mountains to Cody, where Dave Lauck presented a custom
1911 pistol in my name to the Colt Collection at the Buffalo Bill
Museum. Heading back down towards Whittington for the reunion, we
encountered a startling piece of serendipity at the Holiday Inn at
Thermopolis, Wyoming, which houses one of the finest collections of
big game trophies I have ever seen. I am astonished not to have
heard of that display before this, and I encourage all the faithful
to make a stopover at Thermopolis whenever you may find yourselves
up in God's country.

At Whittington we all got a chance to
shoot Dennis Lunt's 50 caliber (50 BMG) at the Billy Dixon target.
"It shoots good, like a 50 cal should." However, someone talked
Dennis into setting a 25 power telescope on it, which is almost
entirely useless as a sighting device. All of us who tried it found
that the light pencil is much too thin for convenient positioning
of the head. The maximum practical magnification for a telescope
sight is about 10 power, such as that on the Abrams tank. At 10
diameters you can see all that you need to see, unless you are
looking for the moons of Jupiter. Be that as it may, we all enjoyed
shooting the big gun, and most people when shooting the 50 discover
that it does not kick as much as we expect it to.

We now have set up five of the new steel
reaction targets on the J&J Game Walk, and they seem
to work very well. These targets cost $280 apiece, and as of now we
have sold five more targets, each of which can be inscribed with
any name the donor feels appropriate. In prospect, the completed
range will have 12 steel reactive targets in position and two more
in reserve at the range house. Of course, we have to build the
range house first, and I have seen no firm plans for that. This
game walk, when ready, will be about the only thing of its kind,
and its only administrative drawback is that it will take quite a
bit of time to run. If things work out properly, we will have two
courses side-by-side and in defilade with each other so that two
shooters can be in action at the same time. Time will
tell.

We note with considerable interest the
appearance of a modern automatic revolver now in production in
Germany. It comes in caliber 357, and as with the old
Webley-Fosberry, the barrel and cylinder recoil together, rotating
the cylinder one notch and cocking the hammer. Just what this piece
is good for I cannot say, but I look forward to shooting it as soon
as possible.

Up in Wyoming we were treated to a
spectacle of a Blaser R93 packing a Harris bipod. Daughter Lindy
suggested that this reminded her of mounting a bicycle rack on your
Ferrari.

Danie van Graan from Engonyameni reports
continued success with his 45-70 "Co-pilot." In his capacity as a
professional hunter he is most unlikely to ever need a long shot,
but the authoritative wallop of a 45 caliber, 500-grain lead bullet
could be decisive up close, and the weapon is so compact and handy
that Danie reports that he has had it at the ready on two occasions
when he just would not have had predictable reason for packing a
full-sized rifle.

If any one of the faithful has handled
one of the new Tanfoglio 45s, I would appreciate a report. On paper
the piece looks good, but I will have to have it in hand before I
can come up with a valid opinion.

Have you noticed that we old geezers seem
to be too tough for the street punks. In Jacksonville recently a
17-year-old goblin attempted to stick up a diner, only to have one
70-year-old and one 80-year-old (actually 69 and 81) saddle up and
blow him away. It is hard to figure out what motivates these
adolescent punks, but it is not hard to figure out the motivation
of us feisty old dudes. We would just rather win than
lose.

The proliferation of state concealed
carry laws has evidently reduced the rate of violent street crime
to a considerable extent. When the goblins do not know who is armed
and who is not, their professional enthusiasm declines. Now that
Britain has made sure (insofar as any law can so insure) that
everybody is disarmed, the streets are given back to the bad kid
with the baseball bat. We hope they are satisfied.

The newest gadgetry for the metallic
silhouette people are color-coded, preset sights. They look pretty,
but whether or not they work remains to be seen.

Every year I am amazed at the amount of
histrionic talent displayed by the brothers at the annual Theodore
Roosevelt reunion. Among other notable performances, we were
delighted with Colonel Clint Ancker's rendition of the St.
Crispin's Day speech from Henry V. I do not believe Sir Laurence
Olivier ever did that as well, but then, Sir Laurence was not a
warrior, whereas Clint Ancker is.

During our recent motor touring, we
noticed on several occasions the road sign "Gusty winds may exist."
Now I find that pretty fascinating. The notice that gusty winds may
exist suggests some thought be given to the relationship of reality
to existence. Whether such winds may or may not exist opens the
door to questions about what constitutes existence. Descartes
declaimed, Cogito ergo sum (I think: therefore I am). Whether winds
may or may not really and truly exist calls for serious thought. I
almost ran off the road considering this matter.

In going into the matter of Theodore
Roosevelt's Roughriders, we discover that those lads had never
fired a shot out of their Krag carbines until they fired at a live
enemy. The notion of sending a man into combat armed with a weapon
he did not even know how to load is strange, indeed. As it turned
out, things went pretty well (from our standpoint), but the
circumstance is no less remarkable for that.

Note that after the emasculation of both
VMI and the Citadel, there is now a move afoot to establish a
"Southern Military Institute" in the hill country of northern
Alabama. This academy is projected as male, Christian, private and
white, about as "politically incorrect" as one can get. It will be
interesting to see whether it actually gets underway. If this is
truly a free country, as we keep telling ourselves, there is no
reason why it should not.

We hear continuous complaint about the
quality of the illustrations in "The Art of the Rifle." Let
me point out that all those pictures were shot in both
black-and-white and color, doubling the amount of effort involved.
It did not occur to me that the finished book, using only the
black-and-white pictures, would look more like a proof sheet than a
finished product. The publisher, however, rejected the color on
grounds of expense. Here we have the classic viewpoint of the
"businessman" - "Better cheap than right." Somewhere down the
line I may be able to persuade another publisher to do the job up
as it should have been done. This will not be true, however, of the
first ten thousand copies.

We hear that the Brits have now
re-activated some horse units for use in the hills of the Balkans.
Interesting, if true.

We are now given to understand by a
police firearms instructor of wide background and experience that
lesbians make lousy shots. Normal girls, on the other hand, tend to
do rather well on the range. Is there a point to be learned
here?

We plan to take Federal "Plus P" 308
ammunition with us to Africa in April. This hot loading effectively
turns a 308 into a 30-06. In conjunction with the "Trophy Bonded
Bear Claw" bullet featured by Federal, this should turn our
delightful little scout into a truly all-around African rifle. We
will check this out and report back.

So much good stuff was declaimed at the
GR and TRM that I cannot include it all in one issue. We
will just go one at a time in forthcoming issues. In this one we
will lead off with the following original poem by Joe Sledge
(edited very slightly by the Guru).

"The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to
time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Thomas Jefferson

The Walking Rifleman
By Joe Sledge

When a man takes his rifle a walkin'
it adds not a bit to his load.
It makes him in fact somewhat lighter,
for he walks as a free man, unbowed.

When a man takes his rifle a walkin',
he's master of all he can see.
A good man won't abuse the position,
for a master's a fine thing to be.

When a man takes his rifle a walkin',
he'll keep his eye sharp, his wits keen.
That's not just a tart he's escortin'.
No, that lady beside him's a queen.

When a man takes his rifle a walkin',
its condition doesn't matter to me.
He can load it however he chooses
so long as he lives by Rule Three.

When a man takes his rifle a walkin'
and he needs a second shot quick,
he'll be glad of the time spent on homework,
that he mastered reflexive bolt-flick.

When a man takes his rifle a walkin'
and he's hunting, to feed him and his,
well, he's living the way God intended,
and that's just the way that it is.

When a man takes his rifle a walkin',
as some say he should not be allowed,
well, they'd better be saying it softly,
for a man with a rifle is proud.

So if you take your rifle a walkin',
realize what you're saying, my friend.
You're saying that you are a free man
and woe be to him who butts in.

So let's take our rifles a walkin',
with pride - defiance if need.
If we don't want to be the last riflemen
we've got to re-sow freedom's seed.

Yes, let's take our rifles a walkin',
and we'll walk in the light, so they'll see.
And if they come to tell us we cannot,
then we'll water the Liberty Tree.

We get the following interesting
commentary from family member Barrett Tillman:

It seems that during the first part of the European War
Hermann Goering, who was the chief of the German air force, ordered
a prominent group commander to outline all of the group insignia on
his aircraft in red; the reason being that the previous group
commander had been married to a woman of dubious ancestry -
read Jewish. The new group commander was a German soldier, and he
obeyed orders, but he went one step further. He dutifully outlined
the group insignia in red - and then had all of the swastikas
on the aircraft fins painted out. You see he was "politically
incorrect," but he appears to have been less afraid to express
himself under the Nazis than his opposite number would be today in
the US Navy. German fliers of that era seem to have been less
intimidated by Hitler and Goering than our present aviators are by
Pat Schroeder. Freedom may be interpreted in different
ways.

Up until our recent trip up into God's
country, I had not given adequate thought to this matter of
shooting the boy's dog at Ruby Ridge. To us it seems impossible to
imagine a case in which a man would shoot a boy's dog. A boy's dog
may be his closest companion in life, dearer to him than his own
family. For the Fed to shoot and kill the dog right in front of the
boy is pretty unthinkable. Do you suppose he was motivated by some
sort of death wish? Considering the fact that the famed Pleasant
Valley War in Arizona was initiated by the shooting of a pet dog,
we are given further reason to ask of the Feds the question, "Just
what goes on here?" This is not to suggest that a dog's life is of
more basic worth than the life of a man, but it does suggest that
this sort of provocation may well have been just what touched off
the string of homicides at Ruby Ridge. And without sufficient
cause.

Please Note. These "Commentaries" are for personal
use only. Not for publication.